What is the SHSAT?

The Specialized High Schools Admissions Test (SHSAT) is the competitive entrance exam used for admission to eight of New York City’s Specialized High Schools. Eligible New York City students in 8th grade and first-time 9th-grade students take the SHSAT when applying for admission to these schools.

The SHSAT measures skills in two major areas: English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics. The ELA section tests Reading Comprehension and Revising/Editing skills, while the Math section covers areas such as ratios and proportional relationships, number systems, expressions and equations, statistics and probability, and geometry.

Beginning with the Fall 2026 SHSAT, the exam is computer-adaptive. Students answer 50 ELA questions and 50 Math questions, for a total of 100 questions, and receive 180 minutes of standard testing time. The difficulty of questions can adjust based on a student’s performance as the test progresses.

SHSAT scores play a critical role in determining admission to New York City’s Specialized High Schools, making strong preparation in both ELA and Math essential for students seeking a competitive score.
 

---

 

How Can ASVAB Tutoring Help You Prepare for the SHSAT?

ASVAB Tutoring provides a structured SHSAT online course and one-on-one tutoring program designed to help students strengthen the Math and English Language Arts skills required for the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test. Our SHSAT preparation program combines concept-based instruction, targeted homework, extensive practice questions, section practice tests, and full-length exam practice so students can systematically identify and improve weaker areas.

Our course currently includes more than 2,400 SHSAT practice questions covering Mathematics, Revising/Editing, and Reading Comprehension. The course structure follows the skills and question styles represented in the official SHSAT sample materials published by New York City.

Comprehensive SHSAT Math Preparation

Our SHSAT Math course contains 18 structured lessons developed to build mathematical skills from fundamental concepts through more advanced SHSAT-style problem solving. Students study and practice:

• Basic operations with integers and decimals

• Fractions

• Percent calculations and percent word problems

• Ratios, rates, and proportional relationships

• Exponents and roots

• Integer properties

• Rational and irrational numbers

• Algebraic expressions

• Linear and nonlinear equations

• Word problems

• Inequalities and functions

• Angles and regular shapes

• Perimeter and area

• Surface area and volume

• Coordinate geometry

• Functions and graphs

• Statistics and probability

Each Math lesson includes instructional material, targeted practice questions, homework, and practice tests. The questions are developed to reflect the mathematical concepts and problem-solving approaches found in published SHSAT sample tests.

SHSAT Math requires more than memorizing formulas. Students must be able to apply familiar mathematical concepts to challenging and sometimes multi-step problems. The official SHSAT preparation material specifically emphasizes applying mathematical skills to complex problems, making consistent problem-solving practice especially important.

Complete SHSAT English Language Arts Preparation

Our SHSAT English Language Arts preparation is divided into three major areas so students can focus separately on the different skills tested in ELA.

English Language Arts – Revising/Editing Part A focuses on grammar, sentence structure, punctuation, language usage, word choice, and revising individual sentences or short passages.

English Language Arts – Revising/Editing Part B focuses on longer, multi-paragraph passages. Students practice improving organization, transitions, supporting details, introductions, conclusions, clarity, and the overall quality of writing.

English Language Arts – Reading Comprehension develops the ability to understand, analyze, and interpret literary and informational texts. Students practice identifying central ideas, supporting details, vocabulary in context, author purpose, text structure, inference, evidence, tone, and other important reading skills.

This organization closely reflects the categories presented in the official SHSAT guide, which separates ELA preparation into Revising/Editing Part A, Revising/Editing Part B, and Reading Comprehension.

More Than 2,400 SHSAT Practice Questions

Students need substantial practice to become comfortable with SHSAT-style questions and develop both accuracy and speed. Our course currently contains 2,400+ practice questions across Math and ELA.

Rather than relying only on a few full-length tests, students work through individual topics first, complete homework and practice tests, review their mistakes, and then progress toward comprehensive exam practice.

This approach allows students to identify specific weaknesses—for example, ratios, algebra, geometry, grammar, sentence revision, inference, or reading comprehension—and practice those areas before taking a complete SHSAT test.

Free SHSAT Final Practice Tests

Each major course section includes Final Practice Tests that students can take for free.

The questions in these final practice tests are taken directly from published SHSAT sample question sets, allowing students to work with official-style material after completing their topic-based preparation.

Free final practice tests are available for:

• SHSAT Mathematics

• English Language Arts – Revising/Editing Part A

• English Language Arts – Revising/Editing Part B

• English Language Arts – Reading Comprehension

These tests give students an opportunity to evaluate their readiness before deciding whether they need additional study or tutoring.

Free Full SHSAT Prediction Test

Students can also take our free full SHSAT Prediction Test, designed to provide a realistic, comprehensive practice experience across Math and English Language Arts.

The prediction test helps students evaluate their overall performance, practice working through multiple SHSAT subject areas in one testing session, and identify the topics that require additional preparation before test day.

One-on-One SHSAT Online Tutoring

Students who need individualized instruction can enroll in our one-on-one online SHSAT tutoring program.

A private tutor can focus instruction on the student's specific weaknesses instead of spending equal time on material the student already understands. Tutoring can include Math, Grammar and Revising/Editing, Reading Comprehension, problem-solving strategies, practice-test review, and targeted preparation based on the student's performance.

Students can combine one-on-one SHSAT tutoring with our online course, giving them access to structured lessons and practice outside tutoring sessions while receiving personalized instruction when they need additional help.

Learn, Practice, Test, and Improve

Our SHSAT preparation system is designed around a simple progression:

Learn the concept → Practice the skill → Complete homework → Take practice tests → Review mistakes → Take final practice tests → Complete a full SHSAT prediction test.

This structured approach helps students build the mathematical, language, reading, problem-solving, accuracy, and test-taking skills needed to prepare confidently for the SHSAT.

---

 

SHSAT Test Structure

Beginning with the Fall 2026 SHSAT, the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test is a computer-adaptive exam. The test contains two sections—English Language Arts (ELA) and Mathematics—with 50 questions in each section, for a total of 100 questions. The standard testing time is 180 minutes. Students may choose whether to begin with ELA or Math.
 

SHSAT Section	No. of Questions	Content
English Language Arts (ELA)	50	Reading Comprehension and Revising/Editing
Mathematics	50	Ratios and proportional relationships, number systems and expressions, equations, inequalities, statistics and probability, geometry, and multi-step mathematical problem solving
Total	100	180 minutes standard testing time

 

The current SHSAT includes a combination of multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, and technology-enhanced questions (TEIs). The Mathematics section emphasizes applying familiar mathematical concepts to complex and multi-step problems, while ELA measures reading comprehension, writing revision, editing, grammar, language usage, and related analytical skills.

 

Computer-Adaptive SHSAT Format

The Fall 2026 SHSAT introduces adaptive item selection. Students initially receive a question or passage set of approximately average difficulty. As they answer questions, the testing system continuously estimates their performance. Correct responses can lead to more challenging questions, while incorrect responses can lead to questions of lower difficulty. Every student still receives 50 ELA and 50 Math questions and is tested on the same grade-level standards and content areas.

The digital format also changes how students move through the exam. Students must answer a question before moving forward. In Mathematics and stand-alone ELA questions, students generally cannot return to a question after advancing. For ELA passage-based question sets, students can review and change answers within that passage set until they submit it; after submission, they cannot return to it.

 

SHSAT Score Guidelines and Specialized High School Admission Scores

There is no single fixed passing score for the SHSAT. Admission to the eight testing Specialized High Schools depends on a student's SHSAT score, the order in which the student ranks the schools, and the number of available seats. Students are considered from the highest SHSAT score downward. A student receives an offer to the highest-ranked school on their list that still has an available seat when their score is reached.

How the Computer-Adaptive SHSAT Is Scored

Under the new computer-adaptive SHSAT, scoring is not based simply on counting the number of correct answers. Each question has an established difficulty level. A student's performance score is calculated from the pattern of correct and incorrect responses in relation to the difficulty of the questions answered.

The ELA and Math performance scores are then converted into scaled scores, and the two scaled scores are added together to produce the student's composite SHSAT score. This composite score is used to rank students for Specialized High School admission. NYC Public Schools states that the process of transforming performance scores into final reported scores remains consistent with previous SHSAT administrations.

Lowest Qualifying SHSAT Scores for 2026 Admissions

The following were the lowest qualifying SHSAT scores for students entering 9th grade in Fall 2026, as published by NYC Public Schools. These scores are useful historical benchmarks, but they are not predetermined admission cutoffs for future years.

 

Specialized High School	Lowest Qualifying Score  2026 Admissions
Stuyvesant High School	561
High School for Mathematics, Science and Engineering at City College (HSMSE)	539
Queens High School for the Sciences at York College	531
The Bronx High School of Science	525
Staten Island Technical High School	517
High School of American Studies at Lehman College	507
Brooklyn Technical High School	506
The Brooklyn Latin School	495

 

Because offers are determined each year by student scores, school preferences, and available seats, the lowest qualifying score at any school can rise or fall from year to year. In addition, Fall 2026 is the first computer-adaptive SHSAT administration, so previous qualifying scores should be viewed as reference points rather than guaranteed future cutoffs.

A Strong SHSAT Score Goal

Students should therefore avoid treating a previous year's lowest qualifying score as a target that guarantees admission. A better preparation goal is to maximize performance in both Math and ELA and aim comfortably above the historical qualifying range for the schools they are considering.

For example, a previous qualifying score of 525 does not mean that 525 will qualify for that school in the next admissions cycle. The actual lowest qualifying score becomes known only after students are ranked and available seats are assigned.